As with so many businesses, many costs for the universities have not dropped, and some have increased. And, like all of us, they don’t know when they will need to speed back up again.
Moving to online - in jig time- was a huge push, and a lot of improvisation was required. Students should have a reasonable expectation that the overall quality of the online learning experience will be better this fall than in they had this spring. Both the professors and universities are investing time and money into reworking curricula, course structures, technology, etc. Creating quality online teaching tools takes a LOT of work, and most of my prof pals have been working flat out trying to figure out how to do just that.
Obviously, the Duke freshman experience won’t be what the poster dreamed of- and that’s crummy. But then, so is all of Covid. It’s not as though the admin and faculty of the universities have any better idea than the rest of us as to how things are going to play out! There is no “right” or clear answer here.
So, when things go all topsy-turvy everybody has to go back to basics: what is the baseline reason for going to college? to this specific college? what % of those reasons still hold up? what are the pros & cons of the alternatives? And then make your own call. Grieve & rage over the raw deal- fair enough, students at every level from preschool to gradschool are paying a really heavy price for the pandemic. But then take stock of what your priorities are, and what path will get you closest to achieving them.